


Enigma | A Young Justice Fanfic

by N3rdy_Bookworm



Category: DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, I'm sorry I'm new at this, Queer-Platonic Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24739117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N3rdy_Bookworm/pseuds/N3rdy_Bookworm
Summary: Aspen Lafont has been missing for almost 4 years. She doesn't remember any of it.So when she appears out of the blue, her friends, family, and herself all want to know the same thing: What happened?Where was she?Why does she have no memory of it?Who, or what, was behind all this?*****************************Takes place in between seasons 1 and 2 of Young Justice.*I do NOT own any Young Justice characters or plots. I only own Aspen Lafont and her original story and Raene Corlette.*
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

Ghost stood on top of the building, taking in the crowded scene below her. People pushed past each other in the streets and honked their horns in their cars. Yells and curses could be heard for miles and miles throughout the city. This time of year was always busy regardless of where she was: everyone wanted to get Christmas gifts for family and friends, and they wanted to do it quickly.

Just what she needed. Crowded streets made for better coverage, and in a city like Gotham, no one would even give her a second glance when she took out her target.

Snow fell around her and a cold wind chilled her skin. She scanned the crowded streets for her target: Kathryn Reyn, a biochemist working at STAR Labs. What was she doing in Gotham at a time like this? She didn’t know, nor did she care.

All that mattered was the job, and pleasing the people that employed her.

She soon spotted the brunette biochemist coming out of a coffee shop, wearing a very expensive-looking jacket and talking on a phone. Ghost quickly and quietly jumped down from the top of the building and into the alleyway, catching herself on railings and fire escapes. She peeked around the corner of the alley to make sure that Reyn was still close by.

During her second look, Ghost noticed that Reyn was not alone: there was a tall man with black hair walking next to her. She looked at the man closely and saw that his eyes were covered with a pair of dark sunglasses, despite the gloomy sky. However, she was still able to detect the small shifts in his face as his eyes darted around the street.

Ghost moved back into the alleyway and pressed her finger to the comm in her ear.

“We’ve got a problem,” she reported to whoever was on the other line at the moment.

“ _ What kind of ‘problem’ _ ?” came the all-to-familiar growl of Cheshire.

“Reyn has a bodyguard or some kind of protection,” Ghost explained, hoping Cheshire would give her some sort of guidance or an idea of what to do. “I won’t be able to get her away from him; he’s got his eyes trained on her like a hawk.” She peeked around the corner again to make sure the pair was still there.

“ _ Improvise _ .  _ You were employed to do a job, I suggest you do it _ .” With that, Cheshire shut off her side of the comm, leaving Ghost to handle the situation on her own. She sighed and leaned her head against the rough brick wall behind her and racked her brain for any possible ideas.

Since she couldn’t think of any plans, Ghost decided to do what Cheshire said in the first place: improvise.

She hugged her jacket closer to her body and walked out of the alleyway, keeping a close tail on Reyn and her bodyguard, whom she decided to call ‘Sunglasses’. She followed them for a good three blocks, thankful that the streets were busy that day as it made it easier to follow them for longer.

Ghost felt around in her pockets to see what she had on her. She had a small dart gun, a few smoke pellets, a regular gun strapped to one thigh, and a thin dagger strapped to the other.

She thought about using her gun to take out Sunglasses and Reyn one by one, but she deemed it too risky in this crowd of people. Plus after firing one shot, it could miss or Reyn could have time to run away.

Her mind wrapped around another idea, which involved her ability to shapeshift. If she could distract the bodyguard, or even take him out, she could shift into him and… No that wouldn’t work, she would need another person to help her. Before she could think of another idea, she smacked into what felt like a wall.

Groaning, she held her head and looked at what she ran into. Sunglasses. She mentally cursed herself for not paying attention.

He turned around, reaching down to help Ghost up.

“Sorry about that,” she said quickly, trying to make up a facade as fast as she could. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” She was trying to play everything off smoothly but wasn’t sure if it was working.

“Must not have been for a while,” Sunglasses said, his voice was somewhat familiar to her, but Ghost couldn’t focus on that over the sound of her heart beating loudly in her chest.

“Hmm?” She said, trying to play dumb.

“Well you’ve been following us for the past three blocks,” Sunglasses said, folding his arms over his chest.

“Happen to believe in coincidences?” Ghost asked in a hopeful voice.

“Nope.”

“Awww, too bad,” Ghost replied, feigning sadness. She quickly punched him in the stomach and smiled when he doubled over. Grabbing her gun, she attempted to shoot him as well, but he recovered too fast and got the gun from her. A shot rang out as the gun hit the ground, causing the people around them to scream and run away.

Before he could land a shot on her, Ghost flipped back towards where Reyn was, and pulled out her dagger and held it to Reyn’s neck. When the man started to come closer, Ghost shouted, “Stay back, or else!” 

She began backing up into another alley, pulling Reyn along with her. The biochemist gave almost no resistance, most likely due to the fact that there was a knife  _ very _ close to her neck.

Sunglasses raised his hands and started moving away from them. This would have been good, but Ghost felt like it was too easy.

She realized how right she was when an arrow struck the wall barely an inch away from her face. The next few moments happened in what seemed like slow-motion.

First, she noticed Reyn’s form changing from a tall brunette into a green-skinned teen with red hair. Then, she phased right through Ghost’s arms and turned around, showing a pair of bright, glowing, green eyes. She realized too late that it was a trap set by the Junior Justice League.

Suddenly, a huge pain erupted in Ghost’s head, causing her to double over and yell out. She collapsed onto the ground, clutching her head as the pounding began to subside.

“Stay down, Ghost,” Nightwing said, standing over her. “Or else.”

“Rather not,” Ghost retorted, kicking her leg out and knocking him over. She had to roll back quickly to avoid an attack from Superboy, who left a crater where she once stood.

While in the process of dodging more attacks from the sidekicks, Ghost turned on her comm, and called Cheshire. “I could really use some help here,” she grunted into the earpiece, ducking to avoid an arrow. “Rude!” Ghost yelled at the archer, and she threw her dagger at Artemis.

She knew her dagger hit Artemis somewhere when she heard a small yelp coming from the archer. She also figured that was the case when a yellow blur shoved her against the brick wall, breaking a few bones in her back.

She grunted as her body rearranged the bones to their proper place and healed the damages. It wasn’t painless, but it allowed Ghost to continue through fights when she was injured.

She looked around and realized that Nightwing was missing from the alley and looked up at the rooftops for him. She just narrowly was able to jump back before he could attack her. 

Ghost wasn’t, however, able to dodge an attack from behind from an unknown hero. She stumbled before regaining balance. Her eyes locked on her gun from earlier, which was a few feet away from her.

She knew that she wouldn’t be able to grab it before being stopped, so she turned around to face her new opponent. A boy no older than fourteen stood before her in the Robin costume, holding his fists up.

“Another Batbrat?,” Ghost jeered. She briefly saw irritation cross his face before being replaced with a blank slate. Ghost smirked and continued her mocks.

“Why the change?” she gibed as she circled around him. “You don’t seem as witty as your predecessor was. You also don’t seem to have the acrobatic abilities he did-”

“Shut up!” he yelled through gritted teeth. Ghost was almost close enough to grab her weapon, but she needed to move over more. But she froze at the sound of his voice.

His voice… It was... familiar. She knew who he was, or at least, did. She racked her brain for how she knew it. Ghost knew he wasn’t with the Shadow’s, but there was no other way she would have known him. This was the first time she was face-to-face with the new Boy Wonder.

While she was distracted by her thoughts, she didn’t notice the rest of the Junior Justice League surround her. They watched in confusion as the assassin stood frozen in her thoughts. She vaguely noticed their hushed conversations as she remained shut down. Memories were starting to come back to her, though they were hazy.

***

_ A girl sat on the floor in a bedroom, and a boy was sitting across from her. He couldn’t have been more than five, and she no more than eleven. They were playing some sort of board game, and every time she won the boy would let out a loud sigh. _

_ “I’m bored now,” he whined. “Can we play something else?” _

_ “It’s not my fault you use the same strategy every time we play,” the girl giggled. _

_ “Show me the thing,” he said excitedly, climbing into her lap. “With your skin. Make it colorful!” he added loudly. _

_ “Shh!” the girl quickly said, putting a hand over the boys’ mouth. “You know I can’t, Jay. If your mom sees that, who knows what will happen.” Jays’ head drooped and he let out another sad sigh. The girl rolled her eyes and let out a sigh of her own. “Fine, but very quickly.” _

_ “Yay!” he said loudly, then after he realized how loud he was, he repeated it softer. “Yay!” _

_ The girl shook her head while chuckling, and held out her right hand. Her eyes closed tightly and her hand began to change colors. It went through the entire rainbow, changing fluidly from different shades of one color to the next. _

_ “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” came a loud yell from the doorframe. Both Jay and the girl froze and looked over at the door. A middle-aged woman stood there, holding herself up with the frame. “You freak! Get out of my house!” _

_“Mom!” the little boy yelled. “Stop!”_ _  
__“Jason Peter Todd, get away from that freak!” the mother yelled again, grabbing her son from the other girl’s lap. As she pulled him out of the room, he twisted away from her grasp and yelled out._

_ “Shut up!” _


	2. Chapter 2

Ghost snapped back to reality just as a smoke bomb engulfed the alley. She quickly took in the scene and saw Cheshire’s figure through the smoke. Ghost, still dazed, ran over to her as fast as she could.

“What is wrong with you?” the other assassin snapped as she pulled Ghost along. “You were completely frozen, what happened?”

“I… I don’t know,” Ghost replied, still trying to make sense of the memory as they ran. “I... remembered something… about my past. But It was different than any other memory I’ve ever had.”

Ghost thought about her past: her parents had died when she was very young, leaving her on the streets. She was found by members of the League of Shadows and brought to Ra’s Al Ghul, where they determined her ability to shapeshift would be useful to the League. From there she began training, and nothing had changed since then.

But this…  _ memory _ … it was different. She assumed that the little girl in the memory was her, but Ghost had no idea who the boy was, even though it was evident that they were close to each other during the time of the memory.

Another thought crossed her mind as it was whirling. What if that memory was  _ real _ , and everything she remembered was  _ fake _ .

That swirled around in her head for the remainder of the time that she and Cheshire escaped from the sidekicks. She barely spoke a word until they got back to Infinity Island, the island where the League of Shadows was based. As the two assassins walked off of the helicopter, Ghost voiced her thoughts.

“Who am I, really?”

“What are you talking about?” Cheshire asked.

“The memory, or… whatever it was, it doesn't make sense with what I know about my past.”

“And what prompted you to remember this  _ memory _ ?” Cheshire growled.

“I don’t know,” Ghost confessed. “I think it was something he said or the way he said it. One second I was about to attack, then the next thing I know, I was frozen in place and reliving a memory. So I’ll ask again:” she said. “What is my past? My  _ real _ past?”

“Whatever you  _ think _ you saw was just an illusion placed in your head by the Martian girl.” With that, Cheshire left the other assassin alone in the courtyard. Ghost didn’t believe Cheshire for a minute and was determined to figure out what was happening.

Later that night, Ghost paced around her room continuously. She needed to find out what her  _ real _ past was, but she couldn’t get off of the island without alerting someone. 

She knew there was a room filled with information Ra’s had on all of the Shadow’s, which was sure to have something on Ghost’s past. But that room was heavily guarded 24/7 by the best Shadows. 

Ghost knew there was no other way to learn anything about her past, so she decided to take the risk.

10 minutes later, Ghost found herself climbing the outside of the massive fortress, trying to find the room from the outside. Thankfully, no one had seen her sneak out of her quarters, so no one knew she was gone. She was also glad that she knew when and where the patrol groups were, so she was able to evade them.

As she was climbing carefully past a window, she heard two voices talking inside.

“Your suspicions were correct,” the first voice started. It was somewhat feminine. Ghost stopped climbing and moved her ear closer to the window so she could hear better. “Her hidden memories can be brought back by word triggers, although only from a person she was close to.”

“How can you be certain of this?” the second asked, this voice was deep and monotonous. “If we were to wipe the memories again, I need to know that they won’t be brought back.”

Ghost’s heart skipped a beat.  _ Wipe the memories again _ ? What did that mean? How many times had they been wiped before?

“She went against her old sidekick friends many times, yet only one of them were able to trigger a memory.”

“The Todd boy, her cousin.” 

Ghost’s breath caught in her throat. That was the name of the boy from her memory. Which meant that it was real, not just an illusion.

Which meant the League was lying to her.

As quietly as she could, Ghost inched closer to the window so she could try to see who was talking.

“Yes, she was closest with him out of all her relationships, so those memories are the strongest and easiest to recover.”

She leaned even closer to the window and was  _ just _ able to make out the two figures inside. Both had their backs facing the window, so Ghost went closer to get a better look.

The woman had long, dark hair, and was wearing a short, green kimono.  _ Cheshire _ .

The man was wearing a dark green, high-collared cloak, that ended just above the floor.  _ Ra’s _ .

Ghost quickly pinned herself against the wall to collect her thoughts. Her mind was racing; thoughts screamed at her as she tried to understand what was going on. Memory fragments were coming to her, though none of them made sense to her.

There was one of a little girl with a young couple. The little girl sat, playing on the ground with assorted toys, but her parents weren’t paying any attention to her. They were involved in a heated argument, both of them were making violent gestures and motions while they shouted.

The next showed the same girl, a couple of years older. She was squirming in a seat while her parents held her down. A doctor stood in front of her, holding a syringe. The parents kept the girl still as the doctor stuck the needle into her, and the girl started to shake violently before slumping over, unconscious.

Ghost shook the memories from her mind and was pulled back to reality when she heard more voices yelling from inside the room.

“Where is she?” Ra’s yelled. Ghost heard shouts from the hallway, and a couple of people trying to answer the Demon’s Head. “Go find her!” he shouted.

Ghost heard him mumble under his breath and walk out of the room. She decided that it was too risky to try and continue her way up to the room, so she climbed through the window and into the room.

She wondered if  _ she _ was the one they were looking for, and if so,  _ why _ ? What made her so important? They must have been keeping tabs on her, as it was the only way they would have known that she wasn’t in her room. Ghost’s mind raced as she tried to plan what to do next.

Her new plan was to get to a helicopter and get off of this island before Ra’s could wipe her memories again and do who-knows-what to her.

Ghost took a deep breath and collected her thoughts, and then began to sneak through the hallways, making sure no one saw her as she made her way up to the helicopter pad. Which was not an easy feat, considering she was on an entire island full of spies, ninjas, and assassins.

The endeavor took longer than she expected, but she finally reached the helicopter pad. Suspiciously, there was no one on the pad, but Ghost didn’t pay it much attention. She assumed they were all looking for her with the other Shadow’s. Her main goal was getting off of this island, and she didn’t care about the finer details at the moment.

As she walked out onto the open pad, her eyes scanned her surroundings. She tried to hide her nervousness and look like she knew where she was going, and that she was supposed to do it. Her head was held high, and her back straightened.

She was just about to climb into the helicopter when a chilling voice rang out from behind her.

“What do we have here?” the voice said. Ghost’s involuntarily shivered at the sound of the Demon Head’s voice. She turned around to face him and saw a large group of Shadow’s standing behind him, already in fighting stances.

“What do you want with me? Why were you wiping my memories?” Ghost yelled, preparing herself to fight at any moment. She was also slowly backing towards the helicopter.

“Ah, so you were the one outside the window,” he said, unclasping his hands from behind his back. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to get more memories back this time. Shorter than I expected. Regardless,” he paused, not showing any emotion on his face. “Cheshire, take care of this.”

He motioned with his hand, and soon enough Cheshire stepped forward.

“It’s time for our plans to be set in motion.” Before Ghost could comprehend what Ra’s said, a sharp pain erupted in the side of her neck and she moved her hand to it. She felt a small object in her neck and pulled it out so she could look at it.

Her hands were starting to lose grip and the small object fell to the ground, Ghost falling as well. She tried to fight the urge to close her eyes, and she watched as Cheshire and Ra’s walked over to her.

She tried to hear what they were saying, but she lost the fight with her eyes and they closed as she went unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

Aspen groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. A bright light blinded her and she moved her hand to her face to block it out. A cool breeze made her shiver, even though she thought she remembered to close the window last night. 

Her body was sore from last night’s patrol—hopefully Ollie and Dinah would take it easy on her today during training.

She slowly sat up and realized that she wasn’t at home in a bed, but instead on top of a building. The breeze wasn’t coming from an open window, but instead from all around her. 

Whatever sense of fatigue she had left her instantly, and she tried to replay what happened last night during patrol that could have left her unconscious.

There was that minor store robbery she stopped, then a potential mugging on the other side of town. There was one more, right before her patrol was over, but she struggled to remember the details.

She vaguely remembered walking above an alleyway and seeing people in all black standing there. That’s where it stopped. Aspen’s mind completely blanked on what came next.

Aspen looked around and found that she was still in Star City, which was good. However, judging by the suns’ position directly above her, she figured it was around noon. Not good.

 _Noon_. That meant she was out for over twelve hours. Ollie was going to kill her.

She sighed and looked down at her body. She found out that she wasn’t in her Enigma uniform, but… civies? There were also bruises up and down her arms, which was weird considering her enhanced-healing abilities. 

Her arms weren’t their natural shade of purple, which also surprised her. Normally if she was knocked out, her shape-shifting abilities were the first thing to go out the window.

And where was Roy? He was on patrol with her last night, and he had to have seen what happened.

She figured someone would know what happened, and if not, maybe after all the yelling and scolding, Ollie and Dinah would help her find out what happened. Aspen did _not_ want to face the hounding questions from either of them, and this event would most definitely result in her being benched from patrol and missions for the next week, but she needed to know what happened.

With another deep, long sigh, Aspen got down from the building and began to make her way home.

As she walked down the crowded streets, Aspen noticed small differences that made her do a double-take. She could have sworn there used to be a pizzeria instead of the corner shop that stood there now. And there was a traffic light on an intersection notorious for near-accidents that she _knew_ wasn't there yesterday.

Nothing changed that fast, but Aspen assumed she was still out of it from whatever wiped her memories and pushed it to the back of her mind.

Surprisingly, no one had stopped her while she walked. Normally, she was swamped by reporters and random people who wanted her picture or to ask her questions. Being the adopted daughter of Oliver Queen did that. But _no one_ stopped her. No one even glanced her way.

She shook the thought away and walked down the long driveway of the Queen Mansion. 

Aspen did a quick scan of the house to see if her window was open, and sighed when she found it wasn't. If it was open she could try to sneak into her room and play it off as if she was sleeping.

But all of the windows were closed, which made sense, considering the cool temperature.

She walked up to the front door and prepared herself for the chaos that was about to ensue. Aspen took a deep breath and opened the door, peeking her head inside.

Strangely, no one was waiting for her or even in the first few rooms of the house. ‘ _Maybe they're in the Arrowcave?_ ’ she thought. Aspen continued walking through the house, looking for anyone as she headed towards the Arrowcave entrance in the basement.

Right before she opened the basement door, she heard a gasp and the clattering of a tray being dropped on the floor. Aspen whipped around and saw a woman standing there with a startled expression on her face.

“Are you okay?” Aspen asked as she went over to the woman, helping her pick up the tray. “You look like you've seen a ghost.” She had no idea who this woman was, but Aspen wasn’t one to forget manners. The woman, however, seemed to know who Aspen was.

“Miss LaFont... is that really you?” she asked, still shocked.

“Um...yes?” Aspen answered, almost like a question. When the woman didn’t say anything back, Aspen continued with a question. “Hey, do you know where Ollie is? I have to talk to him.”

“Mr. Queen just left for work, but—”

“Okay, thank you!” Aspen said, cutting the woman off. She turned around and headed towards the door.

~~~

Aspen was back on the streets of Star City. Still no reporters. Still a corner store instead of her favorite pizzeria. 

As the day went on, the air warmed a little bit, but she regretted not grabbing a jacket before she left the mansion. She knew that the coolness was to be expected, as it was December, but she still wished California would stay warm year-round.

Finally, Aspen reached the Queen Industries building, and thankfully it still looked the same on the outside. She walked in the front doors and looked around. She rarely came here with Ollie, not really interested in the company, despite what the media thought.

She walked over to a desk in the center of the lobby, where a receptionist sat taking phone calls and directing people where to go. She stood at the end of the short line and looked around the lobby as she waited. They seemed to change the decorations every time she came. 

She walked up to the desk when it was her turn. When the receptionist didn’t look up from her computer for a little while, Aspen quietly cleared her throat to get her attention.

The woman looked up at her, surprised at first, then plastered a smile on her face. “Hello Miss, what can I do for you?”

“I’m here to see Mr. Queen,” Aspen replied. The woman looked at her strangely and then down at her computer screen.

“Can I have your name and appointment time please?”

“Oh, I don’t have an appointment, but Ol—err, _Mr. Queen_ said I’m allowed to come in whenever I want to.” The woman gave her another weird look before typing on her keyboard.

“Okay, name?”

“Uh, Aspen… LaFont.” Instead of giving Aspen a weird look, this time she froze while looking at the screen and the smile dropped from her face.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I...d-did you say ‘Aspen LaFont’?” she asked, stuttering.

“Yep,” Aspen replied, popping the ‘p’. The woman nodded and took a breath as she collected herself.

“Okay. Um, Ms. LaFont, you can take the elevator over there,” she pointed to one of the elevators in the corner, “up to Mr. Queen’s office, and I will give him a call-ahead to let him know you’re coming up.” She said the whole thing as if she couldn’t believe what she was saying.

“Okay! Thank you!” Aspen said, ignoring the strange way the receptionist acted and walked over to the elevators. She pressed the up arrow and walked into the elevator car and pressed the floor number where Ollie’s office was.

The elevator _dinged_ when she reached the floor and she walked off, going down the familiar hallway and into Ollie’s office. When she opened the door, she found him pacing the area in front of his desk.

He looked up at her with a shocked expression as she walked in and Aspen immediately went into an explanation of what happened—or, at least what, she knew happened.

“Look, Ollie, I know you and Dinah are probably mad at me, but in my defense I…uh...actually don’t have anything to defend with, but—”

“Aspen,” Oliver said as he walked closer to her, but she continued.

“I know what you’re going to say, ‘I shouldn’t have stayed out that late on patrol’, but—”

“Aspen,” he said, louder and more confident. She stopped talking and looked up at her adoptive father.

“Yes?” Oliver didn’t say anything but instead gave her a hug. She hesitated before hugging back, confused with what was happening. “It’s only been twelve hours, Ollie, I thought you’d be more reprimanding.”

“Twelve hours?” Oliver said, pulling away from the hug. He gave Aspen a look of confusion. “Aspen, you’ve been missing for four years.”


	4. Chapter 4

Aspen's heart stopped as she processed what Oliver told her. “Four y-years?” she asked, making sure she heard him correctly.

“Yes,” he nodded, his eyebrows furrowed. Aspen’s breath caught in her throat and she stumbled around until Oliver caught her.

“No, i-it couldn’t have been that long,” she rambled. “I was only gone for a couple of hours, ask Roy, he was with me last night—”

Aspen’s sentence was cut short as a loud ringing filled the air, and she felt like the room was spinning. She tried to steady herself by holding onto Oliver, but the room spun faster. Thoughts raced through her head, each one screaming louder than the last one.

_ ‘How was she gone for four years?’ _

_ ‘Why didn’t she remember them?’ _

_ ‘Where was she?’ _

_ ‘Who orchestrated it?’ _

_ ‘Why her?’ _

“Aspen! What’s wrong?” Oliver asked in a worried tone, pulling Aspen out of her thoughts.

“I-I don’t know,” Aspen shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts from her head. Oliver moved her over to a chair in the corner of the room and made her sit down. She looked up at him as he tried to tell her something, but the ringing was overpowering. Aspen couldn’t hear herself think anymore and she put her hands over her ears to try to block out the noise.

She barely heard Ollies’ footsteps as he ran somewhere, and thought she heard her name being called out. Aspen looked up to see who was calling her name and immediately regretted it.

The room spun faster and faster until everything turned black, and she slumped over in the chair.

~~~

**Oliver’s POV**

Aspen was back. 

After four years of endless searching, both solo and on League-sanctioned missions, she was back.

Linda, the receptionist, had called Oliver only moments earlier to deliver the delightful, yet shocking news, and he almost didn’t believe what she told him until he watched Aspen walk right into his office.

As soon as her eyes met his, she launched into an explanation of some sort, which confused Oliver. He was expecting her to be more… emotional.

He tried to get her attention while she was explaining, but she wouldn’t listen to him. After the second time he called out her name, however, she stopped her rant and looked up. Oliver’s initial shock finally wore off and he moved closer to her and gave her a long hug. Oliver was overjoyed that his daughter was back, even if she wasn’t his by blood.

Surprisingly, Aspen hesitated before returning the action and continued her rambling, though this time, her voice carried more of a confused tone.

“It’s only been twelve hours, Ollie, I thought you’d be more reprimanding.”

“Twelve hours?” he repeated, confused as to why she didn’t know how much time had actually passed. “Aspen, you’ve been missing for four years.”

He watched as shock and confusion passed over her face, and she repeated his last few words.

“Four y-years?” she stuttered, and Oliver nodded. ‘ _ Why didn’t she know that _ ?’

“No, i-it couldn’t have been that long. I was only gone for a couple of hours, ask Roy, he was with me last night—” She stopped mid-sentence and Oliver noticed her face starting to pale.

“Aspen!” he yelled as her footing started to give out and she stumbled around. Oliver quickly moved closer as she grabbed onto his arms. Oliver watched as she spaced out and his worry grew. “Aspen! What’s wrong?” he asked, watching as his daughter paled more and more.

“I-I don’t know,” she replied, although she sounded like her focus was elsewhere. Oliver looked around the room for somewhere to put her. His eyes landed on the small chair in the corner of the room and he moved Aspen over to it.

As she sat down, Oliver finally got a good look at his daughter for the first time in four years. 

Her hair wasn’t it’s usual short, straight, variant of a bright or neon color, but instead a light brown, wavey, and ended just above her shoulders. Oliver was surprised she looked the way she did, as it was eerily similar to the way she described the effects of a “medication” she was given as a child by her biological parents. 

His breath cut short as gears in his mind turned. If it was the same drug, it could cause her more health problems than just shock.

“Aspen!” Oliver yelled again. Her eyes glassed over and he leaned her against the back of the chair and ran over to his desk. Grabbing his phone, he dialed Dinah’s number as fast as he could. “Hold on Aspen, I’m trying to get you help.”

He watched in dismay as she slumped over in the chair, passed out. The dial tone ended as Dinah finally picked up.

“Oliver?”

“Dinah, we have a problem.”


	5. Chapter 5

Aspen groaned as she slowly became aware of her surroundings. She heard the steady  _ beeps _ of a heart rate monitor and footsteps people walking and talking. A loud  _ whirring _ was heard from above her, most likely from the roof. ‘ _ Great _ ,’ she thought. ‘ _ I’m in a hospital _ .’

She slowly opened her eyes and blinked to get used to the bright hospital lights that lit up the white room. Aspen leaned forward and looked around to get a better sense of what was going on, and found an IV in her arm, pumping some sort of semi-clear liquid into her arm.

‘ _ Why am I in a hospital? _ ’ she thought. As she continued to glance around the room, her eyes landed on Ollie snoring in a chair on the other side of the room, and the events from the last few hours suddenly raced to the front of Aspens’ mind.

She had been gone. For four years.  _ Years _ . But who would’ve done it? They apparently didn’t do it for money, but they seemed to have the ability to wipe the four years from her mind. ‘ _ What happened during those four years _ ?’ she asked herself.

Unsure if she should try to wake Oliver up and ask him some questions, Aspen leaned back in the hospital bed and found herself watching the IV pumping medicine. Despite her dislike of needles, she found watching the IV strangely… calming.

The door to the room opened suddenly, and Aspen quickly looked up from the IV at the blonde woman who just ran in. They locked eyes and stared at each other for a minute before Aspen recognized her.

“Dinah!” she exclaimed as the blonde ran over and embraced Aspen in a tight bear hug.

“Where were you?” Dinah asked with a frightened tone, finally releasing Aspen from her death grip and looking at her. Dinah squinted and reached for a strand of Aspen’s hair. “And what’s with the muted hair color?”

‘ _ The what _ ?’ Aspen thought to herself as she tried to look at her hair. Before either of them could continue, Oliver woke up and joined the conversation.

“She doesn’t know,” he explained, yawning. “She doesn’t even remember the last four years, for that matter.” He walked over and joined the group. “What took you so long?” Aspen watched as Dinah rolled her eyes and turned to Oliver.

“Calling me in the middle of training the Team is not usually an ideal situation,  _ Oliver _ ,” she replied, crossing her arms over her body. “It’s not easy finding a substitute for them.”

“Team?” Aspen repeated. “What team?” Oliver and Dinah gave each other knowing glances before walking out into the hallway. “Why can’t I just get a straight answer?” she wondered aloud.

When they returned a few minutes later, they pulled chairs up closer to Aspen’s bed.

“So,” Oliver started, leaning on his knees, “What’s the last thing you remember from four years ago?”

Aspen leaned back in the bed and thought about it. “Umm… I was on patrol that night—with Roy. We were only out for about an hour when we got a call from you over the comms,” she remembered, referring to Oliver, “and you said we needed to come back. Something about the JL, I think?” she looked to Oliver for confirmation and he nodded. She continued. “On our way back, we—well, _ I _ , Roy almost ran straight past—saw a group of about ten people, all wearing black.”

“Then…?” Dinah motioned for Aspen to continue, but she sighed and shook her head.

“Then…nothing,” Aspen explained. “That’s where my memory stops. The next thing I remember is waking up on top of a building in the middle of Star City.” Dinah nodded and the room fell into silence. “So,” Aspen continued, looking between her mentor and her adoptive father, “would anyone care to fill me in on the last four years? Maybe start with this mysterious ‘Team’?”

Oliver and Dinah exchanged another look, and Oliver sighed. “That call that I made to you and Roy four years ago was about The Team—or at least, what would become the Team,” he explained. “However, when neither of you came back within the next fifteen minutes and wouldn't respond on the comms, we started to worry. Dinah and I suited up and raced around the city to find you guys.

“We came across Roy about twenty minutes later, unconscious in an empty alleyway, and you were missing. I took Roy back to the Arrowcave, and Dinah continued to search for you.” Oliver stopped his explanation and took a long breath. Aspen noticed tears faintly forming on the edges on his eyes, and he wiped them away and continued. “Dinah came back almost an hour later empty-handed. She… she couldn’t find anything.” He took another pause and put his head in his hands. Aspen watched as her adoptive father was silently breaking down over thinking about the incident and started to shed a few tears herself.

Dinah rubbed her hand on Ollie’s back and took over the explanation. Turning her head towards Aspen, she said, “Roy ended up being unconscious for another hour or so, and when he woke up he had no idea what was going on. He had almost the exact same story as what you just explained: a couple of low-level crimes that were easily stopped, then after the call, you guys stumbled upon an alley full of people in black clothes. After that,  _ nothing _ . He had no memory past seeing those people in the alley.”

‘ _ Great _ ,’ Aspen thought to herself as her heart fell. She ran her hands over her face. ‘ _ How are we going to figure out what happened now? _ ’ Roy was her biggest hope for figuring out what happened, but now that she thought about it, it wouldn’t have helped even if he did know something. 

Knowing the three of them, they would’ve used any leads they had or could find right away and if Aspen hadn’t shown up, she knew there would still be nothing.

“So what happened then?” Aspen asked.

“We searched everywhere,” Oliver said. “We got the League’s help. They got people in almost every country on every continent keeping an eye out for anyone who matched your description. We even took into account your abilities, and included some of your normal forms and your eye color in our descriptions. And still, nothing.”

Aspen smiled upon hearing the extra lengths that Ollie and Dinah went through to try and get her back. She was surprised that they remembered the detail about her eyes—half of the time she forgot about it herself. Her eyes were always a shade of pink, and even with training and concentration, she could never change their color. 

It was a dead giveaway when she was undercover, and most of the time she wore colored contacts unless she was on patrol or a mission.

“It was like you dropped off the face of the Earth,” Oliver admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “But we want you to know that we never stopped looking for you. It was always in the back of our minds.” He reached over and placed his hand on Aspen’s arm, squeezing it reassuringly. Aspen smiled and squeezed back, and was about to reply when a doctor rushed through the door, catching the three heroes by surprise.

“Oh,” he said, looking directly at Aspen. “You’re awake. Good.” Aspen stared back at him until she recognized him as Dr. Williams, one of the few civilians trusted with a few of the secret identities of Justice League members and their associates.

“Something wrong, Doc? You look a little worn out.” Ollie halfheartedly laughed. Dr. Williams either chose to ignore the statement, or it went completely over his head, as he didn’t respond to it.

“Yes, I have the results of Miss LaFont’s bloodwork.”

“Bloodwork?” Aspen asked, looking directly at Oliver. “Why’d they run blood tests?” Dr. Williams ignored her and continued on, handing Dinah and Oliver each a sheet off of his clipboard. Aspen cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow at the man until he took the hint and handed her a sheet as well.

“We’ve found large amounts of the drug, Lysoxacin, in your blood circulation, Miss LaFont,” he explained. 

Dr. Williams was also the man who helped Aspen rid her blood of Lysoxacin, a drug that her parents gave her to hide her purple skin and stop her shapeshifting abilities when she was a child. A drug that, unknown to her at the time, led to  _ very _ painful withdrawal symptoms if not taken weekly.

“It’s standard procedures to tell patients what medications we are going to treat them with, but I assume there is no problem with giving Miss LaFont the appropriate countermeasures.” The way he phrased his sentence made it sound like a statement rather than a question.

“Of course,” Aspen replied. She knew first-hand what the effects were, and shuddered at the thought of possibly going through them again.

“How long has it been in her system?” Oliver asked right after, referring to the Lysoxacin. The doctor looked down at his clipboard before responding.

“It’s actually only been in her system for just over twenty-four hours,” Dr. Williams explained, “But that’s only part of the problem. We also found small amounts of benzodiazepines mixed into the Lysoxacin.”

“Which are…?” Oliver prompted, giving the doctor a blank stare.

“A class of heterocyclic organic compounds, most commonly found in tranquilizers, sedatives, and…” Williams looked up, locking eyes with Aspen, “amnesia patients.”

Aspen’s breath caught in her throat. “Are you saying that…”

“Yes, Miss LaFont,” Dr. Williams confirmed. “We can likely assume that whoever gave you the Lysoxacin also mixed in the benzodiazepines with it, meaning they knew what they were doing.” He turned to Oliver. “This is much bigger than you thought, Mr. Queen. You might want to call in some friends.”

‘ _ Oh God _ ,’ Aspen thought to herself, cringing. Oliver and Dinah seemed to have the same reaction to the Doctors’ not-so-subtle Justice League reference, as Oliver got up from his chair and walked him to the door.

“Just leave it to the professionals.” 

~~~

Aspen never really had an opinion on hospitals before. She’d only gone for her friends a couple of times—mostly for Roy or Wally, as neither of them had good impulse control. Now she found, after sleeping on the same bed, and staying in the same room for almost two weeks, she hated them. She knew that it took a while to flush the Lysoxacin out of her bloodstream, but she felt like it was being excessively drawn-out.

It wasn’t all that bad, though. Oliver and Dinah used the time to give Aspen an in-depth description of what happened, including more details about The Team. They explained how it was a secret covert-ops team that mainly went on recon missions for the League. 

As they were explaining the recon part of it, Aspen noticed that Oliver had a hard time keeping a straight face almost the whole time.

“What’s so funny?” Aspen asked. Oliver’s face turned a light shade of pink as Dinah slapped his shoulder.

“Yes, Oliver, do share what you find to be so funny,” she added on, giving him a look.

“Well, uh,” he started, clearing his throat. “For a ‘covert, recon team’, they aren’t very…  _ covert _ .” Dinah rolled her eyes, and Aspen could almost  _ hear _ the mental facepalm she was doing.

They continued on with the explanations until a knock sounded from the other side of the door. Oliver told whoever it was to come in, and in walked a familiar, tall ginger and another girl with long, blonde hair.

“Roy!” Aspen exclaimed. A small smile spread across his face and he walked over to her bed.

“Roy?” Oliver also exclaimed, sounding confused. “We had no idea you were coming. Why didn’t you say anything or tell us?”

“Somebody has to keep looking for him, seeing as you’ve given up,” Roy replied, crossing his arms and facing Oliver. “I almost didn’t come, until I learned it was about Aspen. Then I paused my search and grabbed Artemis on the way here.” He pointed at the blonde girl.

“Yeah, you Zeta’d into the cave right after Canary left and told me to follow you. I wasn’t given much of a choice,” she said, squinting her eyes at Roy. She turned to Aspen and stuck out her hand to introduce herself. “Artemis Crock.”

“Aspen LaFont.” She shook her hand. Artemis turned to Oliver, Roy, and Dinah with a quizzical look on her face.

“Wait. Is she the girl from the pictures?” she asked, pointing her thumb back at Aspen.

“Yes,” all three of them replied, almost unison.

“Looking for who?” Aspen asked, remembering what Roy said a few seconds ago The four other heroes looked around at each other with varying looks of realization, concern, and confusion. Aspen sighed. “Is this going to turn into another three-hour long explanation?”


	6. Chapter 6

After spending those two weeks in the hospital, and missing both Christmas and New Years, Aspen was finally out and back home at the Queen Mansion.

Aspen smiled as she walked into her room, which had stayed the same after four years. When Ollie adopted Aspen, he wanted to give her the second biggest bedroom in the mansion, which Aspen flat out turned down. She’d never had a big room, and she opted for one of the smaller guest rooms.

Her bed was still pushed into the corner, and a small desk in another. Multiple pictures and pieces of artwork decorated the lilac walls. A small bookshelf sat next to the desk, overflowing with books ranging from various fictional books to nonfiction ones.

She was happy that Ollie and Dinah didn’t change anything, but she knew it probably caused them more grief while she was missing.

Roy and Artemis were supposed to take over the explanations when they got back, seeing as the only thing left to explain was more about the Team, which they knew more about than Dinah or Oliver. However, Roy only told her a couple of things and didn’t stay for long, much to Aspen’s dismay, mumbling something about ‘going back out to find him’ under his breath when he hugged her goodbye.

“What was that all about?” she asked Artemis after he left, still not knowing who ‘he’ was. The two girls were sitting in Aspens’ room, Aspen laying on the bed and Artemis leaning against the wall.

“Which part?” Artemis jokingly asked, looking up at Aspen. “Roy’s always in a rush to get somewhere else, most of the time somewhere I’m not.”

“The thing he said about ‘going to find him’. He said something about it when you guys visited me at the hospital the other day—pausing his search for ‘him’, I think?” The archer’s face turned more serious.

“Oh,  _ that _ .” She rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “I don’t know if he really wants me to—”

“Come on!” Aspen interrupted. “ I’m sure others know about it! How bad could it be?”

And then Artemis told her everything about it. How Roy—the real Roy—was abducted during a mission and cloned, and that the Roy that Aspen saw today was the clone. She told her how he was a sleeper agent and unknowingly was a mole and was programmed to try to join the League at any cost. And how now, his only focus was on finding the real Roy Harper, whom Aspen apparently only knew for a year before he went missing.

“Oh.  _ That’s _ what that was about,” Aspen said. “But to be honest, and I know this is going to sound really bad,” she continued, holding her hands up defensively, “But I called it!”

Artemis’s mouth fell open and she gave Aspen a look of shock. “What do you mean you called it?”

“ _ Hello _ ? I imitate others almost daily. I notice a  _ lot _ about how people react to different things and how their moods change. I thought something was up as soon as Ollie found him.” When Artemis still gave Aspen a shocked expression, she elaborated. “All he ever talked about was joining the League—which to be fair, he did talk about a lot before the whole cloning incident, but by that point, it was getting excessive. Also, his mood sucked when he didn’t get his way. At first, I wrote it off as a result of being abducted, but after a while…” she trailed off figuring Artemis would understand what she meant.

Apart from Artemis giving Aspen super in-depth breakdowns on The Team, the two girls soon found themselves straying from the topic. Artemis ended up joining Aspen on the bed and the two girls talked about their personal lives.

Aspen found out that Artemis joined the Team after secretly helping them on a mission, and pretended to be Olivers niece for a couple of months.

“Wait, but Ollie doesn’t even have siblings,” Aspen laughed, shaking her head.

“Yeah, but the Team didn’t know that,” Artemis replied, also laughing. She looked over at the clock on Aspen’s desk and saw the time. “I better get going,” she said, sliding off the bed and picking up her bag from the floor. “It was really nice getting to know you, Aspen,” she said, standing in the doorframe.

“Goodbye!”

~~~

After yet  _ another _ week, Aspen was finally allowed to leave the mansion, specifically to go meet the Team and to see if Martian Manhunter could help her with her memory problem.

‘ _ At least this past week wasn’t spent in another hospital bed _ ’ Aspen thought to herself. She stood next to Artemis, absentmindedly playing with the black ring on her middle finger—which she should have taken off, but forgot to earlier.

“Nervous?” Artemis asked, smiling as she watched the other girl fidget.

“A little,” Aspen admitted, looking up. Oliver and Dinah were on the other side of the Arrowcave, setting coordinates for Mount Justice, and giving Aspen a designation so she could go through with them. “I mean, from what you and Roy told me, I only know two of the members, and it’s been four years since I’ve seen either of them. I’m still on little-to-no power usage while my body recovers and—”

“Aspen,” Artemis said, stopping her from saying anything else. “Breathe. You need to relax.” She put a hand on Aspens’ shoulder. “You’ll be fine.”

Aspen took a deep breath and pushed her ring back down to the base of her finger. Faking a smile, she replied, “Right, I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“Okay,” Oliver said, and the two girls looked at him and Dinah. “We’re ready.” Artemis and Aspen walked over and joined the two Leaguers on the Zeta Platform. A light scanned each of them and then a computerized voice read their designations aloud.

“ _ Recognized: Green Arrow, 08. Black Canary, 13. Artemis, B07. Enigma, A06 _ .” As each of the heroes names was called, they walked through the beam and came out in Mount Justice.

Her first impression of the headquarters was amazement. The inside of the mountain had been hollowed out and was full of high-tech computers and equipment. The ceiling was at least fifteen—if not more—feet above her, and she saw a ton of other hallways branching off from this room.

Aspen looked around more and noticed two people sparring on a lighted platform. As each of them landed a hit on the other, a small holographic screen popped up above them, showing points. 

Aspen’s minds raced as she watched the holograms pop up and quickly fade away. She wanted to know how it worked, what powered it, who made it, and if she could get her hands on it, maybe make something with it?

The platform they were standing on powered down and they walked over to the group. Aspen soon recognized both of them as they got closer: Aqualad and Rob—wait, no,  _ Nightwing _ . He was Nightwing now, and there was a new Robin. One of the few things Roy explained before he left.

She had never met Aqualad in person before, but Roy talked about him a lot. He had a lot of respect for the Atlantean.

Aspen had known Ro—Nightwing ever since Oliver and Dinah introduced her and Roy to him. She also noticed that he was wearing sunglasses, though how he kept them on even after flipping around the platform was beyond her.

“Aspen!” Nightwing grinned when he recognized her and the two embraced. When they moved back, Nightwing noticed an inquisitive look on Aspen’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m just trying to figure out how you keep those glasses on while doing all those acrobatics,” she laughed and he smirked. “Also, how does that platform thing work? What powers it? How—”

She was cut off when Oliver cleared his throat loudly and gave Aspen a look that meant something along the lines of ‘manners’.

“Oops, manners, right.” She looked over at Aqualad and extended her hand. “Hello, Aqualad, it’s nice to finally meet you. Roy told me a lot about you.”

“Hello, Enigma, it’s nice to meet you as well. And please, call me Kaldur.” Aspen nodded and smiled. “What brings you to Mount Justice?” he asked.

“We’re supposed to be meeting Martian Manhunter here to find some missing memories,” she explained.

“Missing memories?” Nightwing questioned, looking between Aspen and Artemis.

“It’s a long story,” Artemis said, shaking her head.

She was about to ask more questions about the computer when Dinah and Oliver got a call from the League. “Excuse us,” Oliver said as he pressed the comm hidden in his ear. He and Dinah walked away from the group to talk privately. Aspen hoped they would leave her here for a while.

“So,” Kaldur started, pulling Aspen out of her thoughts. “Nightwing tells me you can shapeshift, is that true?”

“Yeah. I’m not really supposed to use them right now, but…” she trailed off looking over at Ollie and Dinah, who were still in conversation. “A little bit wouldn’t hurt anyone, right?”

Aspen held out her hand in front of her and took a deep breath, concentrating on changing the color of her hand. She looked down and saw the skin changing seamlessly to multiple different colors instead of the purple. Looking up from her hand, she saw both Kaldur and Artemis watching with awe written all over their faces.

“Woah,” Artemis breathed, eyes wide open as she between Aspen’s face and her hand. She blushed and stopped the rainbow, changing her skin back to its natural purple hue.

“My cousin used to love watching me do this,” Aspen explained. “It got me into trouble by his mother a couple of times, but it was worth it. He would get so excited…” she trailed off, remembering that she still hadn’t talked to Jason since… four years ago. She needed to find time and call him.

“Does he know that you are a hero, your cousin?” Aqualad asked and Aspen shook her head. 

“I never told him outright, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he figured it out. Jay was pretty observant.”

A loud cough erupted from Nightwing as the group turned and looked at him. His eyes widened under his mask and he grasped for something to say. “Uh… sorry, I...uh…” He was saved from an explanation when Ollie and Dinah walked back from their call.

“Our meeting with Martian Manhunter is going to have to wait. We have League business to attend t—” Dinah said before Aspen cut her off.

“And you’re going to let me stay here?” she asked through a smile. Noticing the looks that Ollie and Dinah were giving each other, Aspen quickly added, “C’mon, I’ll be perfectly fine. 1, I’m 19—”

“And when you walked into my office three weeks ago, you thought you were still 15,” Oliver cut in, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head.

“And 2,” Aspen continued, ignoring her adoptive fathers’ comment, “I’m with a group of  _ very dependable  _ people,” she said, looking around at the others. “Right?” she added as she saw that the looks on their faces said otherwise. 

“Last time I promised someone that the members of this team were good kids, they kidnapped his daughter and snuck out on a mission without telling any of us,” Dinah replied as she raised an eyebrow, and Aspen heard awkward coughs coming from behind her. Aspen made a mental note to ask about that later.

“That was  _ one  _ time, Canary,” Nightwing said as he put his hands on Aspen’s shoulders, flashing a cheesy smile at Dinah. She and Oliver exchanged one last glance before she said anything else.

“Fine, but if either of us finds out that you left this mountain without us knowing—”

“I’ll never be allowed to leave your sight,” Aspen finished for her. “I know, we’ve had this discussion multiple other times throughout the week.” Specifically when she convinced Ollie and Dinah to let her go out with Artemis earlier in the week. Oliver walked over and gave her a hug before walking with Dinah to the Zeta Beam platform.

“ _ Recognized, _ ” came the Computers’ voice, “ _ Green Arrow, 08. Black Canary, 13. _ ” Aspen watched as the two disappeared into the beam of light and let out a sigh of relief.

“Finally,” she sighed. “I thought they would never leave.”

“What, they have you on lockdown since you got back from the hospital last week?” Nightwing smirked as the group began to walk away from the entrance.

“You have no idea. I’ve been on monitor duty since I got discharged from the hospital.” She paused. “So, about the platform thing...” she trailed off raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

“We can check that out later. For now, let’s see who’s still here and get introductions done,” Nightwing said, motioning for Aspen to follow him further into the giant cave.

“Yeah, you said that most of the Team was still out, right?” Aspen looked over at Artemis for confirmation.

“Most of them,” Nightwing said. “School already started back up for Wally, M’gann, Conner, and Raene, so they won’t be arriving until later. But the rest should be around here somewhere,” he explained. “Speaking of which,” he added, motioning to the group of people that were entering the main room. The group consisted of three girls and two boys.

“We thought we heard people talking in here,” one girl said. She had medium-length black hair and wore a black blazer over a white shirt and a yellow vest.

“Hey guys” Nightwing addressed as they all walked closer. “I want you to meet Enigma, Black Canary’s protege,” he introduced while panning his hand towards Aspen.

“Um, hello,” she waved shyly, a small blush crawling across her cheeks. She really hated having all the attention on her.  _ Especially _ when it was with new people.

“Enigma?” Robin asked, raising his eyebrows and crossing his arms. Aspen noticed the small differences in his costume compared to the old one, now that he was closer. His version had long sleeves, and his mask was thicker than Nightwing’s original. “Like the code?”

“Yeah,” Aspen said. “The Enigma code was infamous for changing completely every twenty-four hours, and I thought it kinda made sense with my powers allowing me to shift into whoever I want or can create,” she rambled, her eyes moving around the room and not looking at the other heroes. An awkward pause ensued, most likely because the Team was not expecting an explanation or one at that length. ‘ _ Why are you like this, Aspen? _ ’

“Wait,” another girl said. She had short black hair and was wearing a jumpsuit. “So you can shapeshift?” Aspen nodded her head in response. Her eyes widened in excitement as she yelled, “That’s so cool!”

“Thanks.” A huge weight lifted off of Aspen’s chest, and she let out a breath.

“I used to know someone who was obsessed with that code” Robin started, a faint smile appearing on his face. “S—Uh,  _ They’d _ —stay up all night telling me random facts about it.”

“Woah, did the Boy Wonder just smile?” one of the girls jabbed, raising an eyebrow at the young Robin. His face immediately fell back to a frown.

“Robin,” Nightwing said, motioning for him to follow. They both walked out of the room.

“Um, what was that about?” Aspen asked, looking around the room. Everyone looked at each other before Artemis spoke up.

“Let’s just say that Robin doesn’t… It’s…  _ unusual _ for him to smile,” she explained, putting heavy emphasis on ‘unusual’.

“Or show any emotion for that matter,” the girl with the pixie cut mumbled. The third girl, who had short, red hair, elbowed her in the side and gave her a disapproving look.

“Anyways,” Artemis said, trying to get the conversation back on track. “Aspen, why don’t we fully introduce you to everyone.” Aspen nodded, and soon she was shaking everyone’s hands and learning their names, both real and alias, all at once.

“I am Aquagirl, but you may also call me Tula,” the red-head told her. “And this is Tempest or Garth,” she added pointing at one of the boys. Aspen nodded and smiled at them, noting that their uniforms were similar to Kaldurs’.

“Rocket,” the girl with short black hair said, smiling at Aspen. “Or Raquel. And you met Robin already.”

“I’m Zatanna, Zatanna Zatara,” the girl with shoulder-length hair said, holding out her hand.

“Zatara? As in the Justice League member Zatara?” Aspen asked as she shook her hand, tilting her head to the side. She immediately regretted asking the question, as Zatanna’s face instantly fell. “Oh my god! What did I say?”

“It’s fine. It’s not your fault, you didn’t know,” Zatanna answered sadly. She took a breath before continuing. “Yes, my father is— _ was _ —Zatara, but two years ago he sacrificed himself to Dr. Fate so I could live my life.”

“I’m so sorry,” Aspen replied somberly. The air went quiet for a couple of minutes before Rocket spoke up.

“So, Enigma,” she started, “Are you going to tell us your real name? Or are you pulling the secret identity card?” Aspen let out a chuckle.

“Oops, sorry. My real name’s Aspen, Aspen LaFont.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Jason’s POV**

“Woah, did the Boy Wonder just smile?” Zatanna jabbed, raising an eyebrow at Jason. His face immediately fell back to a frown. The happy memories from his childhood with his cousin were still fresh in his mind, although he didn’t show it on his face.

“Robin,” Dick said, motioning for him to follow. They both walked out of the room, and Jason followed him into the kitchen.

“Dude, what was that all about?,” Dick asked, clearly concerned for the younger boy. Jason sighed and shook his head.

“I don’t know, I just…” Jason trailed off. He leaned against the counter behind him. “Enigma reminds me of my cousin.”

“Cousin? What cousin?” Dick asked. “You’ve never mentioned this to me  _ or _ Bruce.”

“I guess I just thought you guys already knew. I mean,” he paused. “Bruce is  _ The _ Batman. World's Greatest Detective. Plus, I don’t talk about her much because she disappeared a couple of years ago, long before Bruce took me in.” ‘ _ Why does Dick care? A few months ago he didn’t even know I existed. Now he’s asking about Aspen, _ ’ Jason thought to himself.

“Wait,” Dick said suddenly, interrupting Jason’s thoughts.

“What?” Jason asked, crossing his arms.

“How long ago  _ exactly _ did your cousin go missing?” he asked, his brow furrowed in thought.

“Um,” Jason said, looking up at the ceiling. “About four years ago, I think? Hold on,” he said, pulling out his phone from a pouch on his utility belt. “Yeah, last message she sent was December 20th, 2009.” He showed the phone to his adoptive brother.

Dick took the phone so he could get a better look and saw that the contact name was “Turing’s Biggest Fan”. He raised his eyebrows at the name and turned the phone back around to Jason for an explanation.

“Oh,” he chuckled, smiling at the name. “Yeah, like I said earlier in the mission room, Aspen l—”

“Wait,  _ Aspen _ ?”

“Yeah. What’s the big deal?”

“Oh God, I’m an idiot!” Dick exclaimed.

“Hey you said it, not me!” Jason yelled, holding his hands up in defense. Dick ignored him as Jason tried to suppress a snicker.

“How did I not see it before?” Dick ranted, throwing his hands up in the air and walking around the kitchen. “Aspen always mentioned having a cousin, but she never told us their name until today, when she mentioned  _ you _ by name—or, at least, your nickname. Then you said Enigma reminded you of your cousin an—”

“Dude, you lost me a while back,” Jason interrupted, brows furrowed in confusion. Dick turned around and Jason watched as his brother blinked twice before putting his hands on Jason’s shoulders.

“Jay,” Dick started again, slower, “your cousin’s name is Aspen, right?” He nodded his head. “The new girl, Enigma, her real name is Aspen. Aspen LaFont.”

Jason’s eyes widened at the name of his cousin’s name. “So basically, me and my cousin are both superheroes, but neither of us knew the other one was a superhero?” All of a sudden, everything clicked in his head.

It explained why, seemingly out of the blue, Oliver Queen adopted Aspen. Why she was always in Gotham to visit him when there was a big fight going down there. And it was probably because of her superhero status that she went missing.

‘ _ How did I not see it? _ ’ he thought to himself. Then another thought hit him. ‘ _ How did I not notice the hero with the  _ same abilities _ as Aspen? _ ’ Jason mentally facepalmed. Bruce had him read all of the files on every League member as soon as he was indoctrinated as the second Robin, yet he apparently skipped over the part where Black Canary’s sidekick was his cousin.

“God, I’m so stupid,” he muttered under his breath, to which Dick replied:

“Hey, you said it not me.” 

Jason shook his head and stared at Dick, giving him an ‘ _ are-you-serious _ ’ face. Another thought crossed his mind. “So let me guess, even though I personally know Aspen, I’m not going to be allowed to tell her who I am?”

“Yup.” When Jason’s face fell, Dick added, “Hey, it’s B-Man’s rule, we both have to follow it.”

“Oh yeah?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow. “And how many people know your identity?” He knew that Dick had told over half of the original Team members of his secret identity. “Not so secret, after all, is it?” he smirked.

“You know what, Jaybird?” Dick said, grabbing his younger brother around his neck and pulled him close, rubbing his knuckles through his hair. Jason pushed away from him and flattened his hair, laughing.

Dick smiled at his younger brother laughing. Something he hadn’t heard in a while.

\---

**Aspen’s POV**

After Aspen was introduced to everyone, including M’gann and Conner—Miss Martian and Superboy, respectively—Aqualad announced it was time for training. 

Wally and Raene were both still at school, apparently, their school ran the latest out of the rest, and Nightwing and Robin returned just as Kaldur started to pair everybody up.

She noticed that Nightwing was now in a uniform, which was mostly black and had a blue symbol of a bird across his chest. He also had a black domino mask covering his eyes.

“Aspen, do you wish to join our training session? Or do you require more time to recover?” Kaldur asked as he continued pairing people up.

“I should be fine,” she said, although it sounded like she was trying to convince herself of that. “As long as I don’t strain my powers,” she added, trying to sound more confident.

“Okay, then you will be sparring against—” Aqualad was cut off by Nightwing.

“Me,” he finished, walking over to Aspen. He crossed his arms and leaned against her shoulders, trying to push her off balance.

“What, beating you once wasn’t enough? You need a rematch?” Aspen jeered, shoving him back. She fondly remembered the first time she met Nightwing, when he was still Robin, and had mistaken him for the enemy when he snuck up behind her. Needless to say, both the Dark Knight and Boy Wonder were very impressed, although the latter was a bit embarrassed at the following events.

“Wait, you beat Nightwing?” Superboy asked. “In a sparring match?”

“Not exactly…” Aspen trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck. “It was more along the lines of ‘he snuck up behind me the first time we met and I didn’t know who he was at the time and might’ve thought he was the enemy so I flipped him and he landed flat on his back’.” She looked up at the group and could almost  _ hear _ the cartoonish ‘jaw-drop’ sound as they gave her shocked expressions.

“So yeah, you beat Nightwing,” he said, folding his arms.

“Yeah, I guess you could put it that way,” Aspen laughed while rubbing her hands on her arms.

“So, up for a rematch?” Nightwing asked while smirking at her.

“Whatever you say Wonder Boy,” she replied, and the two of them moved to the platform—which Aspen was  _ still _ waiting on an explanation for.

They both moved to fight stances and Aqualad typed something into a holographic computer by the training platform. The floor lit up underneath them, and Nightwing began his attacks.

Aspen was never the person to strike first, so she waited until he went for a punch and grabbed his arm, pulling him as he followed through with the strike and he lost balance. Aspen took this opportunity to kick his legs out from underneath him, making him fall onto the lit-up floor. Above his head, a small screen appeared, reading:  _ Nightwing. Status: Failed _ .

“Wanna try again?” Aspen asked as she suppressed a smile. She held out her hand to help Nightwing up from the floor.

“You got lucky,” he grunted as he took Aspen’s hand. She suddenly felt a hard tug on her hand, and she jolted forward. She was thrown off-balance from the sudden pull, and Aspen soon found herself flat on her back on the floor, while Nightwing stood above her, a smug grin on his face. Another small screen appeared, reading:  _ Enigma. Status: Failed _ .

“Wanna try again?” he mocked, repeating her same actions as before. This time, however, Aspen took his hand without flipping him over. She groaned as she cracked her back, earning some looks from the rest of the Team at the loud noise.

Suddenly, Aspen’s joints locked up, and she fell to the ground. Her body started twitching uncontrollably. Pain flared up and down her body, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Aspen could barely hear the confused shouts and orders as she laid there spazzing.

She knew exactly what was going on, but she couldn’t say anything while she was like this. ‘ _ Dr. Williams said all of the Lysoxacin was out of my system. How am I still reacting to it like this _ ?’

She tried to move her spazzing hand to a pocket on the side of her uniform pants, where a single-use Syntheprosyn syringe was. No matter how hard she tried to control the spazzing, she wasn’t able to open the pocket.

Suddenly, a voice entered Aspens’ mind. She didn’t recognize it at first, but after the voice spoke, she knew exactly who it was.

“ _ Aspen! What’s going on? _ ” Miss Martian asked telepathically. “ _ What can we do? _ ”

“ _ Pocket… Get the syringe in my pocket _ ,” Aspen said, grunting in pain. She felt someone reach into her pocket and pull the syringe out.

“ _ What now? _ ”

The pain was getting more and more unbearable, and Aspen wasn't able to give directions, even mentally. Despite this, she felt the sharp sting of a needle on the side of her arm and her body gradually stopped spazzing. Her breathing stabilized and she became more aware of her surroundings, specifically the yelling coming from all around her.

“What would have happened if that didn't work?”

“No one else knew what to do! I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing!”

“Speaking of which, how  _ did _ you know what to do?” This was the first voice Aspen fully recognized: Conner. “M’gann couldn’t even get a mental answer, yet you grabbed the syringe and just—”

“It doesn’t matter!” Nightwing yelled. “Look, she’s fine now.” Aspen blinked to clear her vision and saw him holding out his hand. She took it and slowly got up. “Aspen, what happened?”

“I… It was Lysoxacin. Or the withdrawal symptoms from it,” she explained, leaning on him for support. “I have no idea how I’m still experiencing them though,” she continued, shaking her head. “It was cleared from my system when I left the hospital, and I nothing has happened all week.”

“But there had to have been  _ something _ left, right?” Robin asked, giving Aspen a worried look. “Or that syringe wouldn’t have worked.”

“I guess so,” Aspen replied, looking back at him. ‘ _ Wait _ ,’ she thought. ‘ _ He kind of looks like… Jason _ .’


	8. Chapter 8

“That’s not fair!” Nightwing yelled, throwing his hands in the air, a shocked expression on his face. The whole Team was crowded around the table.

“It’s not  _ my _ fault  _ you _ let me choose the game,” Aspen replied, a wide smile crossing her face.

**A little over two hours ago**

After the whole showing-symptoms-of-the-drug-that-was-supposed-to-be-out-of-her-system-but-really-wasn’t thing happened, Nightwing made Aspen sit out for the rest of training. She didn’t resist either, as the whole thing took its toll on her body. Aspen’s muscles would spazz out at random, which made her nervous at first but after a while, it just annoyed her.

The Justice League was called into a mission in Rhelasia, so Aspen wasn’t able to contact Oliver or Dinah until it was over. She was fine with that though—she wasn’t ready for another round of blood tests and... needles… She shuddered at the thought of them.

After training was over and the Team changed back into regular clothes—except for Kaldur, Garth, Tula, and Conner; who seemed to always be in the same outfits—Artemis and Nightwing took Aspen on a tour of Mount Justice.

They explained how it was reinstated as a base of operations for the Team after being deserted by the League when the Joker found out its location. Aspen marveled at the huge, red ship when they went into the hangar, which was called the Bio-ship. Then they walked back through the Mission Room, which Nightwing explained to be the main room for both training and (as the name suggests) receiving their covert missions.

Afterward, Nightwing and Artemis led Aspen to the Library, which immediately fell in love with. It was a huge room, with two levels filled with bookshelves and chairs and tables. While Aspen was taking in the beautiful space before her, she faintly heard Artemis and Nightwing muttering something about androids and a secret passageway. She didn’t pay it much attention and decided to file it away in her brain to ask about it later.

They also showed Aspen the Waterfall room, which was exactly what the name suggested: a room with a wall that could turn into a waterfall if someone pressed a button. She didn’t really pay attention to that room, though, as her mind was still on the library.

To end the tour, Artemis and Nightwing showed Aspen the Kitchen/Lounge area, where the rest of the Team were. A few members were sitting and holding conversations while the rest were looking down at their phones. As soon as the trio walked in, all conversation stopped and all eyes were on her once again.

“What should we do, now?” Aspen asked. The room was completely silent, and the Team was currently giving strange looks to each other as if conversing through expressions alone. ‘ _ Weird _ ,’ she thought. 

When a few of them looked back at her, she added, “I mean, I don’t know what you guys normally do, but uh…” She trailed off.

“Well,” Artemis started, breaking eye-contact with the rest of the group. “Normally we would have a mission, but we’ve been on a sort of break since the whole Ghost thing.”

“Wait, ghost? Like spirits?” Aspen asked. Artemis shook her head before explaining further.

“Not exactly, we had a run-in with the League of Shadows assassin, Ghost, a couple of weeks ago and a bunch of weird…  _ stuff _ happened.”

“Oh no, a villain freezing in mid-battle is completely normal,” Robin quipped, gaining glares from at least half of the Team. The more Aspen looked at him, the more she saw Jason. ‘ _ But he would’ve said something, right? Even  _ if _ Batman told him not to share his identity, wouldn’t he tell me? _ ’

“But regardless,” Artemis continued, looking back at Aspen, “Every since that mission, everything’s been quiet. No sign of Ghost, Ra’s,  _ Cheshire _ , or any League of Shadows members.” The way Artemis said Cheshire’s name made it seem like she had a personal grudge against her.

“You’re acting really weird today, Rob,” Zatanna said from her spot next to Aspen. “What’s going on with you?” Aspen watched as Robin opened his mouth to respond, but was quickly cut-off by Nightwing.

“Hey! Why don’t we do something? Like, play a board game or… something” he added the last part softly, like he didn’t know what else to say but desperately wanted to change the subject.

“Oh!” M’gann exclaimed. “I still have some Earth board games I want to try!” She got up from her spot next to Conner and  _ literally _ flew out of the room. She came back a few minutes later with a short stack of boxes. “We have Monopoly, Scrabble, and Clue.”

“Nightwing and Robin always win at Clue,” Zatanna complained.

“Aspen is our guest,” a small voice spoke up. Everyone turned to the source and found Tula. “Perhaps she should pick the game?” 

Aspen smirked. Almost all of the options were games that she was banned from playing with Ollie, Roy, and Dinah, mostly because she was able to win every time. It’s not like it’s her fault they didn’t know that she could add ‘whiz’ onto Dinah’s ‘bang’ in scrabble to make ‘whizbang’ which got her 76 points. Or that none of them were willing to take the risk in Monopoly while Aspen was buying every property she landed on.

Clue, on the other hand, was the only one all four heroes were at an equal chance to win. The current standings—or what Aspen thought was most current—had all four tied for most rounds won.

“So what game should we play, Aspen?” Nightwing asked. “Clue or Monopoly?”

“What happened to Scrabble?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. 

“I’ve been told by a reliable source that you aren’t allowed to play Scrabble,” he replied. ‘ _ Damnit _ ,’ Aspen thought. Scrabble was going to be her first choice.

“You shouldn’t believe something until you see it for yourself.”

“I think I’ll stick with my source and veto Scrabble.”

“Okay, whatever you say Wonder Boy,” Aspen said, rolling her eyes at him. “Well, I don’t really want to play Clue with the two proteges of Batman, so Monopoly, I guess.”

"Yay!" M'gann exclaimed. "Is everyone playing?"

"We will sit back and watch," Garth said, referring to himself and Tula. "Tula and I are still learning about the Surface World, so I do not think it wise for us to join in yet.”

Kaldur nodded in agreeance and said, “I will sit back with them to help explain what will be going on during the game.”

“Okay then, anyone else sitting out?” M’gann asked, looking to the rest of the group. When no one said anything, she clapped her hands together and started setting up the game. “Then let’s start!”

Two hours later, the game had finished. Everyone was currently counting up their money to see who had won the game.

“I got $2,057,” Rocket said proudly.

“Damnit!” Artemis exclaimed. “You beat me by 20 bucks!”

“Don’t feel bad, Artemis,” M’gann started. “Both Conner and I only got $950 each.”

“Joke’s on all of you, I got $3,000!” Zatanna announced. “What about you guys?” she asked, directing it at Aspen, Nightwing, and Robin.

“$1,897,” Robin sulked. With his facial featured all scrunched the way they were, and even though he was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, he looked exactly like Jay whenever he would lose a game to Aspen.

Nightwing smirked. “Sorry Z, but I got $3,743.” Aspen watched as Zatanna threw him a stink-eye. Nightwing touched his chest, feigning shock. “Ouch. What about you, Aspen? How bad did I beat you?”

Now it was Aspen’s turn to smirk. “You really shouldn’t start bragging until you know for sure you’ve won.” Aspen watched the smirk fall from his face as she continued. “Because I ended with a grand total of… $7,547.”

“That’s not fair!” Nightwing yelled, throwing his hands in the air, a shocked expression on his face. The whole Team was crowded around the table and started yelling at each other trying to figure out how she did it.

“It’s not  _ my _ fault you let me choose the game,” Aspen replied, a wide smile crossing her face as she watched the chaos that was ensuing before her.

“How did you do that!” Rocket yelled.

“It’s a simple concept,” Aspen explained. “You buy as many properties as you can, but only the ones that you know people are going to land on. Then you put as many houses and hotels as you possibly can on them, so the rent goes through the roof whenever any of you guys land on my property. See, simple.”

The room went silent as the other teens tried to process her strategy. Aspen tried to stifle a laugh while watching the ridiculous faces they made as they did so.

“Hello everyone! The Wall-man is here!” a familiar voice rang out, interrupting the silence. ‘ _ Wally _ !’

“Don’t forget me!” another voice followed. “I’m here too!” Aspen looked up from the table to see the familiar ginger and another girl walk into the Lounge. 

The Team said various greetings to the pair without looking up from the Monopoly board, still trying to figure out how Aspen won the game.

“What’s going on?” the girl asked, scanning the room, her eyes landing on Aspen. “Another alien?” she asked hesitantly.

Aspen got a good look at the girl and the first thing she noticed was her eyes: a unique mix of amber and gold. She also had long hair that faded from dark brown at the roots to a lighter shade at the ends. The two girls stared at each other until Aspen remembered to introduce herself.

“Oh! I’m Enigma,” she said as she stood up, holding her hand out to the girl. The two girls shook hands, The two girls shook hands and she added, “Or Aspen. And no, I’m not an alien.”

Suddenly Aspen felt a tight squeeze around her waist and she was lifted up off of the ground and twirled around in the air.

“Aspen!” Wally yelled as he put her back on the floor. “Where have you been! Why didn’t you tell me you were back! Are you joining—” His barrage of questions was interrupted by Artemis smacking his arm.

“Jesus, Wally,” she yelled. “A) You interrupted her and Raene’s conversation, and B) you’re talking a-mile-a-minute. Give her a chance to ” Wally let out a long sigh and shot her a glare.

“ _ Fiiiiiiiine _ . Sorry Rae,” he said, looking at the other girl. He stepped back and allowed Aspen to resume her conversation with Raene.

“So... where were we? Oh yeah! Shapeshifter,” she chuckled, “not an alien.”

“Sorry,” the other girl replied with an embarrassed smile on her face. “With the crazy skin color, I couldn’t be too sure.” Raene turned away and started coughing into her arm. “Oops, guess my medicine is wearing off.”

“Still sick?” Zatanna asked Raene, marking the first comment that wasn’t related to Aspen winning Monopoly.

“Yeah, my mom wanted to keep me home from school today, but I already missed so much at the beginning of the year, so I miss any more.” Her face scrunched up and Raene let out a loud sneeze.

Aspen jumped back, startled, but not by the sneeze itself. Raene had teleported across the room right after she sneezed, which was what caught Aspen by surprise.

“Well that was unexpected,” Raene said, looking around the room and chuckling nervously.

Aspen froze at her actions. It sparked something inside her and images and memories started to flash before her eyes.

***

_ Two women stood at the entrance of a warehouse, dark clouds looming overhead. Waves lapped on the small harbor next to the warehouse, huge cargo ships docked for the night. _

_ “Find her,” one of them growled at the other. She wore a dark green “Do not let her get away, again.” The other girl nodded and walked inside the building. _

_ The interior was crowded with boxes and shipping containers and had almost no lighting. The woman weaved through the maze as she looked for the girl they were after: a teleporter who escaped the convoy the two women were guarding. _

_ “I know you’re in here,” the woman called out into the darkness. “You can only teleport a few hundred yards in your current state, which doesn’t leave you far to go.” _

_ She heard shuffling coming from the end of the warehouse, and she continued walking, slowly. _

_ “Not to mention the exhausted state you’re in. You won’t be able to get far without _ —” 

_ A loud BANG cut through the air and the woman whipped around to find the familiar group of sidekicks entering the warehouse through a newly-made hole in the wall. _

_ “So much for covert,” one of them muttered.  _

_ The woman crossed her arms across her body and shook her head. “To think I hoped you kids wouldn’t be here.” She sighed, pressing a button on her comm in her ear. “Well, at least now it’ll be fun.” _

_ “Stay where you are, Ghost,” Nightwing said. “We outnumber you.” _

_ A laugh echoed through the room as the other woman walked into the light and stopped next to Ghost. “Perhaps you outnumber her in number, but you surely not in skill.” The two women fell into fighting stances and the group of sidekicks did the same. _

_ Just as the two sides were about to attack each other, a loud sneeze echoed out, and the teleporter appeared in the middle of them. _

_ The girl’s eyes darted between the group of sidekicks and the pair of assassins. “Well, that was unexpected.” _


	9. Chapter 9

That… _ thing _ …had been nagging at Aspen from the back of her mind for the past week since she met the Team. And Raene.

It would play over and over in her head: the woman entering the warehouse trying to find Raene. The Team stopping her. Then Raene popping out of nowhere. 

What scared her the most was that the ‘memory’ was first-person. Artemis said that Ghost was part of the League of Shadows, so why did Aspen have a memory from  _ her _ point of view?

Aspen and Oliver sat in the kitchen eating breakfast. She was reading a book she found in her room earlier—one good thing that came out of losing her memory was being able to pick up the book without needing to reread any parts. Ollie sat across from her, watching the news as he sipped his coffee.

“Who’s Ghost?” Aspen asked suddenly, unable to ignore the thoughts swimming around in her head. Oliver blinked a few times, processing what she had just asked before saying anything.

“The assassin?”

“No, the thing that’s haunting the upstairs bathroom,” Aspen quipped.

“Okay, first off, we had that light fixed a while ago, and there was never any other proof of something supernatural in there.”

"I know what I saw," Aspen replied defensively. "But yes, tell me about the assassin."

"There's not really much to tell," Ollie sighed. "She started popping up more and more on the League's radar, and she fought the Team on multiple occasions. She was highly skilled, so we were never able to apprehend her."

"That's it?" Aspen asked. That didn't help her situation with the memory-thing at all.

"What, are you writing a book on her or something?"

"No, it's just…"

"What?" Aspen could hear the genuine concern in her adoptive father's voice, but she ultimately decided against telling him.

"Nothing. I… uh… heard Artemis saying something about her at the Cave the other day."

Upon hearing her name from the TV, Aspen turned her head. Grateful for the distraction, she watched as Cat Grant talked about rumors of her return, showing very low-quality pictures and video clips of herself walking around the streets of Star City.

“The beloved adopted daughter of Oliver Queen, Aspen LaFont, suddenly disappeared just over four years ago, with no explanation. No ransom note was ever found, despite Mr. Queen’s multiple pleas for the return of his daughter.

“Now, as these photos and videos are surfacing, the media has blown up, posting theories as to if this is  _ really  _ Ms. Lafont, or merely a doppelganger. We have been unable to reach Mr. Queen at this time, or even get a statement from any of his employees. More information to come.”

The TV went to a commercial break, and Aspen looked over to Oliver, who shared the same look of confusion as herself.

“Sooooo…” Aspen trailed off, looking at him for a response as to what just transpired on the TV.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” he said, putting his hands up in defense, “I’m not the one who has a conspiracy theory about herself.”

“Oh really?” Aspen asked. “When was the last time you went on the internet and searched ‘Green Arrow Conspiracy’?”

“When was the last time you were  _ on _ the internet?” Oliver shot back. He looked at Aspen over his coffee mug and smirked at her apparent lost for words.

“Rude,” she finally mumbled.

“You do know this means I have to make a statement soon, which will eventually lead to you making an appearance on live TV to make one also.”

Aspen sighed and sank down in her seat. "Can't we do a phone call or something where I don't have to, you know, go on TV?" 

Aspen hated being out in front of cameras and reporters, especially when they started asking her questions. She would always clamp up and be unsure of what to say. It had gotten better the more she did it, but she still hated it, and Ollie knew it.

A knock came from the front door, followed by footsteps making their way to the kitchen. Aspen looked up to see Dinah standing in the doorway.

“Did you guys see the news?” she asked.

“Sadly," Aspen sighed.

"I'm guessing Oliver told you that you're going to have to make an appearance soon?"

"Can't I just… stay 'missing'?" Aspen asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Nice try," Oliver said, "but no. I'll talk to someone about this whole ordeal later."

"Go get ready for training,” Dinah said to Aspen. “I have some things I need to discuss with Oliver.”

“C’mon, you know I can have myself a new identity in like five minutes, and in ten it’ll be like the new me was real the whole time!”

“No,” the two heroes deadpanned simultaneously.

~~~

Aspen stood in the Arrowcave, pulling her hair back into a half up-half down style so she could stretch and warm up for training. 

Each day, Aspen used her shapeshifting more and more so she could test her limits and rebuild her strength. The first day she did what was easiest, which was changing her hair color. The next was her hair length and texture. Then she tried with her skin color. And yesterday, she finally tried putting it all together, shifting into her usual form: fair skin and vibrant, chin-length, purple hair. 

So today, Aspen took the next step, which was using her shapeshifting while sparring.

Just as she started stretching, Aspen watched Dinah and Oliver walk into the room, both sharing the same look. ‘ _ Please just be a coincidence _ ,’ she hoped as they walked over to her.

“So, Aspen, is there anything you want to tell us?” Oliver asked as the two stopped right in front of her. Aspen shook her head.

“Not that I can think of,” she replied, silently regretting the hole she was now digging. “Why?”

“Nothing about your training session at the cave?” Dinah asked. So they found out about that.

Aspen was,  _ surprisingly _ , able to keep the whole training incident under-wraps for the past few days after making Artemis promise not to say anything and telling her she would tell Dinah and Ollie at some point. Obviously, she never did—nor was ever planning to—which is what got her into this mess.

“So you found out about that…” Aspen said sheepishly. She went to fidget with her ring, but only found an empty spot on her finger and remembered taking it off before training. “How, exactly, did you find out?”

“It’s not the best idea to hide something from us that had multiple witnesses,” Dinah chided. “Witnesses that see me multiple times a week.”

“It wasn’t  _ that _ bad.” The only thing left at this point was to try and downplay it, but Aspen doubted she would get too far with that.

“It was obviously bad enough that you needed to use the emergency syringe.” Aspen looked down at the floor as Dinah scolded her. “I don’t think you understand what toll this might have taken on your body, Aspen!”

“Look, I’m perfectly fine! I knew you guys would continue to run tests on me, and nothing came up in the tests, so I’m fine now,” Aspen snapped. She immediately put a hand over her mouth. Oliver and Dinah were just as taken aback by her sudden outburst. “I—I don’t know where that came from—I’m sorry,” she apologized quickly, and ran out of the room


	10. Chapter 10

“ _ Recognized: Green Arrow, 08. Black Canary, 13. Enigma, B15, _ ” the monotonous voice of the Computer read.

‘ _ That didn’t sound right, _ ’ Aspen thought to herself.

She looked over at Dinah and Oliver as they exited the Zeta Tube with a confused look on her face. “Wait,” she said hesitantly. “I thought my designation was A06? That’s what it read out last time.” Oliver and Dinah shared a glance as Aspen looked between the two. “What’s going on?”

“Well,” Dinah replied, “that was part of what I discussed with Oliver the other day.” Aspen looked at her expectantly, still wondering what was going on. “We, along with the other members of the League and the Team, have come to the decision that it would be best for you to be a part of the Team.”

Aspen’s face lit up. 

“Wait, really?” she asked excitedly. Oliver and Dinah both nodded their heads. "That's awesome!" She pulled both of them into a group hug.

“But,” Oliver said after they broke away. Of  _ course _ there was a 'but'. There’s  _ always _ a ‘but’ with something like this. “We want you to be more honest with us. That means not hiding important information that could have affected your health and abilities.”

“Easy!” Aspen replied happily. “Is that it?”

“Not exactly,” Oliver continued. “You still need to serve comms duty,  _ before _ you officially join the Team.”

Aspen sighed. Running comms was her punishment for ly—er,  _ failing to talk about _ —what happened at the Cave. As much as Aspen loved technology, she hated just sitting behind the computer and not going into the action and helping.

She only had one more week left, so it wasn’t  _ that _ bad. Plus, having something to look forward to afterward should help it go faster.

“ _ Fiiinne _ ,” Aspen replied, drawing out the word.

They finally walked off of the Zeta platform and farther into the Watchtower—which she 100% had  _ absolutely no idea about _ , and  _ never _ got bored one day and overheard Oliver and Roy talking about it (Which she was pretty sure  _ he _ wasn't supposed to know about either). 

Nope. A _ complete _ surprise to her until Dinah and Ollie told her where they were going.

They walked into a room where a green-skinned man stood in front of a holographic computer, watching its screen intently. His red eyes glanced around the screen for a few more seconds before he realized that he wasn’t alone in the room. He walked through the screen and the whole thing shut off and dissipated.

' _ Another one of those holographic computers, _ ' Aspen noted. ' _ I really want to get my hands on one of those _ .'

"Good afternoon, Dinah, Oliver,” he greeted. He turned to Aspen and continued, “And I’m afraid I do not know your name yet.”

"J’onn, this is my protegee, Aspen,” Dinah introduced. “Aspen, this is J’onn J’onzz or Martian Manhunter.”

“Hello, Aspen. It is nice to finally meet you, though I wish it was under more positive circumstances.” Aspen let out a small smile and shook J’onn’s outstretched hand. 

“It’s nice to meet you as well, J’onn.” She let go of his hand and he motioned them over to a small bench in the corner of the room.

“If you would lay down, please, we can begin the process of finding your lost memories.”

Aspen nodded and laid down on the bench. Surprisingly, it was more comfortable than she thought it would have been.

“So what’s going to happen, exactly?” Aspen asked as he took a seat behind her.

"Your missing memories are still stored in your mind, only they are suppressed from the amnesia-drugs you were given,” J’onn replied. “If my suspicions are correct, then we only need to go into your mind to find and 'unlock' them, per se.”

Aspen pondered this for a moment. "Will you be able to see  _ all _ of my memories?"

"There is a chance that you might re-experience old memories if they are also suppressed, but you shouldn’t,” he explained. “If it is a concern I will try to only focus on the memories from the four year period, but I cannot make any promises.”

“Thank you,” Aspen said, letting out a sigh of relief. She wasn’t thrilled at the chance of reliving old memories, but she trusted that J’onn would be able to control what memories they pulled out.

“Are you ready?”

Aspen nodded. “Yes.” Aware of J’onn’s hands being placed on either side of her head, Aspen’s eyes began to slowly close.

When she reopened them, she found herself standing next to him on a street outside of a house.

“Where are we?” she asked, looking over to J’onn.

“This is your amygdala, where memories are stored.”

“Why does it look like…  _ this _ ?” Aspen asked, still having no idea where the house was or why it was in her mind. She couldn’t place it anywhere.

“I brought us to the part of your amygdala where your repressed memories, specifically, are stored,” he explained. Studying the house, he continued, “This is how your mind views them. Perhaps this is a repressed memory in itself.”

“Maybe.” Aspen started to walk towards the door but hesitated after stepping on the patio. “I don’t think I should go in there,” she said, shaking her head.

“Why not?” J’onn asked.

“I’m getting a… I don’t know… a bad feeling from it,” she explained. Looking over at the house, she continued. “Something’s telling me I shouldn’t go in there.”

“It is ultimately your choice, Aspen. I cannot force you to relive old memories if you do not want to,” J’onn said. “You can choose to let your memories come back sporadically in flashbacks if that is what you prefer.”

“You know about that,” she said, referring to the flashback she experienced at the Cave. J’onn nodded. “Are you saying that’s a memory?” she asked.

“I am not sure. But going through there, and seeing if your other memories match up will allow us to say for certain,” he explained.

Aspen nodded and took a deep breath. She walked up to the front door of the house and tried the handle. It was locked, but there was no keyhole or signs of any other locking system. She looked over to J’onn to see what she should do, but he shook his head.

“This is  _ your _ mind, Aspen. You are subconsciously blocking yourself from remembering.”

“But, what about the…  _ other _ repressed memories?” Aspen asked. “The ones I  _ don’t _ want to find.” 

“That is a chance you have to be willing to take, Aspen." And he left it at that.

Aspen turned back to the door. ' _ As much as I don't want to even  _ think _ of those memories, I need to find out what happened during those 4 years. _ ' She concentrated on wanting to find her missing memories, and the door soon swung open.

Doors lined the walls up and down the first hall. ‘ _ Weird, _ ’ Aspen thought to herself. 

Wait, if she and J’onn were in her own mind, wouldn’t her thoughts be echoing through the air?

Her mind wasn’t meant for this kind of high-level, philosophical thinking.

“What’s with all of the doors?” she asked J’onn as she walked up to one.

“I’m not sure,” he replied, following her actions on another door. “Strange,” he continued upon inspecting the door. “They appear to be locked, but there aren’t any locks on them.”

“Same as the front door.” She tried turning the door she was in front of and found that it was unlocked. “J’onn, this one’s…” she turned around to share her discovery with him only to find that he wasn’t in the hallway.

“J’onn?” she called out meekly.

“Aspen!” a familiar voice called out. She whipped around to look for the source but only saw the empty hallway. “J’onn? Was that you?” she asked. Getting no response, she looked back at the door and now found it slightly ajar. “Hello?” she called out tentatively. She slowly pushed the door open and peeked inside. “Is anyone in here?”

“Aspen, no!” J’onn yelled, but it was too late. She had already stepped into the room and the door slammed shut behind her, locking her in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess whos back back back back again gain gain
> 
> im so sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for a while. I don't want to upload all the chapters at once cause I haven't written a new chapter since like june (I think I'm up to like chapter 17 on wattpad).
> 
> I'm gonna try to be more active!


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